


Privacy Fences Make Good Neighbors

by Red Charade (traciller)



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Admiring from Afar, Captain Cold does not exist, Len dotes on his lil poodle, Len is not a villain, Len owns a poodle, Len takes Lisa away from Lewis, M/M, Neighbors AU, No Dialogue, No Resolution, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, References to Child Abuse, Some angst, some dad!Len feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-03
Updated: 2016-04-03
Packaged: 2018-05-30 23:35:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6446716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/traciller/pseuds/Red%20Charade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>...or at least sometimes they reveal good neighbors.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Privacy Fences Make Good Neighbors

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this Tumblr post: http://puppy-a-day.tumblr.com/post/141394140573/bet-you-cant-find-me

Leonard Snart had done his fair share of wrong deeds in his life. As a kid seeking attention and acceptance from his father and later as a troubled teenager angry at the world. A few stints in juvie hadn’t scared Len straight, but what did scare him was his first stint in prison when he was just barely 19. Not even considered old enough to drink yet, but he was old enough to put in an actual prison with very large hardened criminals.

It was short. He did two years, paroled at the minimum of his sentence for good behavior and sincere contrition. And it really was...sincere, that is. He had managed not to get into too much trouble inside and had managed, miraculously, to navigate the place without getting hurt or...worse. He definitely didn’t want to go back and try his luck at it again, though.

Not to mention he had his sister to worry about. She’d spent the time that Len had been in prison with their father and he’d seen the new scars and the new bruises. If he’d been there, this wouldn’t have happened. If he’d kept himself out of prison, if he hadn’t gotten caught, if he’d never done anything wrong in the first place, he would have been here to protect her or at least take those beatings himself.

So, he did the only thing he could think to do. He continued checking in with his parole officer when he had to, never missed an appointment. He made sure to find work, though it wasn’t easy because everyone did background checks these days. Whether what you did was a felony or not, if you had a record and they found it you would probably get passed over. They wouldn’t tell you that was why, but...that was why.

But, he was determined and he was young and able-bodied and he found work at a garage fixing cars and as a janitor at a hospital. Despite the two jobs, he still managed to go to classes and get his GED, which opened some more doors for him and he moved on to a couple of better jobs that both paid better.

Even though he worked so much, he always made time for his sister and to help her with what she needed. He got a place of his own and she spent a lot of time there with him instead of at their father’s place and with her consent, after getting enough evidence, he started proceedings to have his father declared an unfit parent and to give custody of Lisa over to Len instead since her mother had left and nobody could find the woman. Len’s own mother had passed away when he was around 4-years-old. And extended family were all either dead or uninterested in taking in a child a troubled teenager from an abusive home.

It had actually been kind of a long battle in court and a few times Len thought he was going to lose and Lisa would be punished by their father for his actions but he was given a pleasant surprise when the court actually ruled in Len’s favor.

So, Lisa came to live with him for real and for good and Len resumed where they left off, basically with Len has both big brother, father, and mother to her. The way it had always been, really. It was an easy pattern to step into and it was familiar and comforting for both of them, especially since nobody had to worry about when Dad was coming home or what state or mood he’d be in or what illegal jobs he had lined up or who he would want to try to make go with him.

Len saved enough money to move them into an actual house and a job promotion with a substantial pay raise came at a good time so that he could add even more money to the savings accounts he kept. It also came around the same time their dad got caught and went to prison for a much longer stint than he ever had been put away for before and that meant they didn’t have to worry he’d be lurking around or showing up on the doorstep to harass them. Just because the court had given Len custody hadn’t meant that they were completely free of him.

But he wasn’t going to hurt them from prison.

In the new house they had a nasty next-door neighbor who had somehow realized Len was an ex-con and did his best to make their lives miserable in the neighborhood. Surprisingly, most people in the neighborhood weren’t worried about Len being an ex-con because he never did anything to gain notoriety or cause trouble. He did his work, he tended his home and property, he took care of his little sister and made sure she got to school and did her homework and had a social life with friends and that she was home at a decent hour. No loud music made the neighborhood jump in the middle of the night. He was just a hardworking guy who had made a few mistakes as a kid, paid for them and was doing his best to move on and live a respectable life now.

There were some gossipers, don’t get him wrong, but they were few and tended to be their own little circle and Len and Lisa tended to ignore them since nobody was causing actual trouble for them in the neighborhood. People could talk all they wanted, so long as talking didn’t turn into doing something and there was no indication that that was even a thought.

At least until the neighbor started watching them from across their properties, sometimes taking pictures, and complaining about every little thing he thought was a violation of city ordinance or crossing a property boundary.

Len kept an eye on it, checked idly for other properties in case they needed to move, but otherwise ignored the guy since they weren’t doing anything wrong and made sure that their blinds and drapes were closed at night. He wasn’t going to tolerate some jackass peeping on his sister.

He ends up just building a huge wooden privacy fence around their home.

When Lisa graduated high school, he went to the ceremony and watched her walk across the stage with her classmates and he totally did not shed a tear. But he did definitely cheer when they were permitted and he was one of the loudest ones. Louder than some of the parents next to him, even.

Lisa had been mortified at his behavior. Len had taken pictures and video and was never ashamed to show off pictures of his sister in her cap and gown to co-workers.  
Lisa thought Len was ridiculous but he didn’t care. That was his baby sister! She graduated high school! That was something Len hadn’t done. But she did it and she was great and she had a scholarship to a good 4-year university that would help her get on track for the type of career she wanted and Len was just so ridiculously proud of her he couldn’t contain himself sometimes.

Except after she’s gone he comes home after seeing her to the airport and realizes the house is...really empty and quiet. And for a while he ignores it and goes about his business because he doesn’t have time for this nonsense he has work and things to do.

Skyping with Lisa and regular phone calls help, but after they say goodbye he’s just more aware of his loneliness than ever. He has a job and things to do, and sure he has some friends but for so long his life had revolved around taking care of Lisa and now that that’s gone and the house is empty except for him he realizes he doesn’t really have an actual life.

His best friend, Mick, teases him about empty nest syndrome and Len punishes him by passive aggressively refusing to burn Mick’s pizza when he comes over for game nights. It gets some comments, but it doesn’t actually deter Mick from suggesting that Len get out more or something.

And Len tries, but he’s just not into clubbing. Going to the bar once in a while is nice, but he still comes home to an empty house and it just reminds him of how lonely he is. So, he decides to get a pet. He ends up going to the shelter and looking around. He doesn’t have any specific animal or breed in mind, but he feels a kinship with the animals here who have been through so much in their lives.

Finally, he comes across a little white poodle. At first he didn’t even realize she was a poodle. There was an effort to maintain her fur, but there were so many animals at the shelter and they were kind of understaffed that she didn’t get the specific care she probably needed. She was shivering in a kennel and her hair wasn’t the pristine white that it could be but it wasn’t overly dirty either...it was just that her fur was so white you saw every little speck on her. And her fur could’ve done with some brushing and special tending, but there were no mats. She seemed nervous and afraid, but she still came up to Len when he crouched near her kennel and let him touch her nose and her fluffy ear.

He really didn’t know what it was, but something about her demeanor and the way she looked at him just tugged at his heart strings and he knew that she was the one. He made the necessary arrangements that day and went through all the paperwork, the hoops, the donation. Made sure he understood how to care for her, made sure he had things ready for her at home, and within the next two days he had her home with him.

The shelter had already made sure she was up to date on her shots and that she was spayed and microchipped, and Len made sure to change the information on her microchip to reflect her new address, phone number, Len’s name as her owner, and her new name, etc. He got her a brand new pastel pink collar that her tags hung from. She also had a pastel purple harness for walking and a pastel blue leash. She liked pastels, alright??

After bringing her home, Len felt a lot less lonely and ended up completely doting on her. He learned to make homemade dog treats, he even learned to make homemade dog food, he always made time to walk her and to play with her. He made sure she was clean and well-groomed and brushed and that her nails never got too long. He made sure she had always had her flea and tick medicine on time, as well as her heart worm medicine on time.

When she’d first come home with him, she’d been timid and a little unsure but it hadn’t taken her long at all to get used to the place and feel secure here and that was when her precocious personality really came out and Len loved it.

She was happy and playful and insisted on doing things her own way, although she wasn’t untrainable. Len had taken time to work with her on learning commands and he had a little obstacle course outside in the backyard for her that he changed around sometimes once she got so used to doing it one way that she no longer had to think about it to complete it.

She missed him while he was at work, but she didn’t have the sort of anxiety he’d heard about from other pet owners about it. She was still happy to see him when he got home, though, and the first thing they’d do when he got his things put down was go for a walk.

She had her own little dog belt and zillions of dog toys, but somehow she always ended up sleeping draped over Len. It didn’t matter if he fell asleep on the couch after watching an episode of Doctor Who or if he had gone to bed for the night, somehow he’d wake up at some point with Fiona draped over him or curled up on his back or curled up on his stomach or near his head on his pillow.

Mick teased him about how much he was into this little froo-froo dog but Len didn’t let it deter him and he felt vindicated when he noticed that she was growing on his best friend, too. He watched her curl up next to Mick and Mick would ignore her for a little while before his hand would drift down and he’d pet her and somehow within the next 20 minutes Fiona would end up in Mick’s lap.

It only took a couple of months before Mick was baby talking to her and it was the most hilarious thing ever. Len secretly recorded some of it and sent a video to Lisa, who nearly fell out of her chair laughing at it while they Skyped.

Lisa and Fiona also got along wonderfully when Lisa came home to visit for holidays and breaks. Len was secretly jealous because somehow Lisa had become Fiona’s clear favorite. He pushed his ridiculousness aside, though, because he was way too happy about Fiona and Lisa getting along so well. Not that it was ever in doubt, because Fiona was a sweetheart and Lisa had always wanted a dog. It was just that before, when they were living with their dad it wasn’t feasible...the poor animal would’ve been brutalized. And in the beginning when Len had first gotten out of prison, there was no money or room and then he was too busy trying to get custody of Lisa to spend time and money and effort on a pet, and then they both still had so much going on once that was done.

But, even when Lisa came back for a while the dynamic was now still perfect for a pet and Len was so glad it had worked out so well.

When Lisa had go back to school and Len was sad after he’d seen her off at the airport, Fiona would come over and sit next to him and put her head on his lap and give him the most understanding look he’d ever seen on animal and he would be so happy she was there.

At times like that, Len would lay down on the couch and let Fiona cuddle with him and he’d give the top of her head a few kisses and she’d try to attack him with kisses of her own and it wouldn’t take long before he was laughing again.

Len was relieved when the neighbor that had given he and Lisa such trouble had moved out and didn’t even care about proper values when the place was left vacant for a while. He wasn’t in a rush to get another neighbor who might be just as nasty or worse as the guy who’d moved out.

Unfortunately, as far as Len was concerned anyway, the place didn’t stay vacant for too long. He heard from Mrs. Fairaway and her wife Laurie while they met up walking their dogs (they had a black schnauzer mix named Morgan who was extremely sweet and got along well with Fiona) in the neighborhood that a younger guy had gotten the place. They were both in their 60s and surprised that such a young man, he couldn’t be out of his 20s yet according to them, had been able to afford his own home already in this economy.

Laurie mentioned that the young man looked nice enough when she saw him out of their living room window and had hinted that he was also handsome. Not so subtly, either, since she gave Len a nudge with her elbow.

He rolled his eyes at her and said he wasn’t in the market for that, and she thought that was a shame. Her wife gave her a playful swat on the arm and told her to stop meddling...but then also said that she’d spoken briefly with the young man the other day and he seemed very sweet and polite.

Len was pretty sure that was also a hint, even with an elbow nudge.

Still, he had no desire to get to know this new guy and was a little affronted that people in the neighborhood were apparently trying to play matchmaker with them. Even if...when the guy did formally move in and Len got a good look at him he had to admit they weren’t wrong with their assessment of his looks and his demeanor. And the few times he’d tried to be neighborly and speak to Len, he had been very polite just like the Fairaways had said.

But, appearances could be deceiving and he was just sort of waiting for the other shoe to drop with the guy and for him to prove he wasn’t as sweet as he seemed.

Except...Fiona started doing something she’d never done before. She started to find ways under the privacy fence and into the neighbor’s yard.

The first time it had happened, Len had been frantic. He’d let her out in the back yard and stepped away for a fucking second and then she’d disappeared! He’d called out for her, increasing the volume of his tone as he couldn’t help adding worry to it. Did he mention he was getting frantic?

The neighbor from next door, Barry Allen as he’d introduced himself, brought her over, though. Apparently she’d gotten into his yard by mistake and he was really sorry.

Len had thanked him curtly and shut the door in his face, in favor of looking Fiona over and making sure she was alright. She was completely happy with herself, though, and even tried to give Len a kiss.

She ended up getting a bath for her troubles because she was filthy after having crawled under that fence.

After the next three times it happened, Len began trying ways to deter her from it. Watching her better, filling in the area she would dig at with more dirt. Planting grass and flowers there. Putting a few bricks in the way. Nothing worked. For some reason, she really wanted to go visit the neighbor’s yard. Or Barry himself.

Len suspected the asshole was giving her treats. And that worried him because what if he gave her something poisoned one day??

After a couple years of this going on, though, Len relaxes because clearly Barry didn't have any ill intentions toward her and Len obviously couldn't stop Fi from doing whatever she wanted to do and he was pretty sure that Barry was being good to her when she decided she wanted to go visit him.

He could tell that when he called for Fiona, sometimes Barry would personally help her back beneath the fence into Len’s yard again and he would always be careful. And sometimes he’d just bring her over to the front and knock on Len’s door to present her himself safe and sound and a little bit hyper.

And sometimes Len was pretty sure he could hear the guy talking to Fi and...Len had to admit he had a nice voice and he was very sweet to her. He also might have, maybe, possibly listened in on a few personal stories he probably wasn’t meant to hear and he really didn't sound like a bad guy and maybe he hadn't lived a charmed life like Len had half suspected he had at first.

Listen the privacy fence was so people couldn’t look over, not so nobody could hear through it.

But, maybe the unimpressed looks and the glares when they were leaving for work around the same time in the morning weren’t warranted. He’d already been scolded by it from Laurie once after she’d apparently been looking out of the Fairaways’s living-room window again.

Still, there was absolutely no way he could be falling in love with his neighbor just based on how kind he was to Len’s dog.

...Right?

***

Barry Allen’s neighbor has had that privacy fence up since he moved in a couple years ago and he seems really uninterested in getting to know Barry. But…but he has the CUTEST little white poodle named Fiona who likes to visit Barry either by peeking under the fence at one area or just outright sneaking into Barry’s yard at another part of the fence, digging her way through every time it’s filled in again, pushing aside anything in her way intended to block her attempts.

She has pushed actual bricks aside before. She means business.

And Barry just thinks she’s the most adorable thing he’s ever seen and he always lets her sit in his lap for a minute and gives her little treats (he learned to make homemade dog treats just for her…a dog who doesn’t belong to him).

At least until the neighbor, Leonard, comes out back and starts calling for her. Then Barry sighs and helps her back under the fence to get back into her own yard where she runs off and Barry can hear, “there you are, where were you? Were you at the neighbor’s again? You gotta stop that, Fi. Just look at your paws…look, you got it on your belly, too. Oh, Fi…come on, let’s get you cleaned up,” a sigh and then the closing of a door.

Barry can’t be put off by the neighbor’s mean attitude toward him when he can hear the man talk to his dog like that. Like she’s a person who totally gets what he’s saying, a misbehaving but well-meaning child. And Barry is personally aware that Leonard calls her FiFi sometimes.

He might be developing a crush on his neighbor based on the way he hears the man talking to that adorable dog (not to mention Barry knows he keeps her bathed and well-groomed because the only time he sees her dirty or even the tiniest bit disheveled is when she had to struggle to get into his yard…basically AS she got herself that way)…oh god, what is his life??

**Author's Note:**

> The ending bit with Barry was really the whole fic for a while, but then I wanted to give some backstory for Len and this happened. I hope I didn't ruin it by getting carried away with the lead-up.


End file.
